Last night, I stumbled upon some videos on YouTube that was featuring Zappos’s work culture.
What I saw was much alike to what I always believe in – A company should instill fun and not fear into the employees. Zappos is definitely one of the few companies that have achieved it. Another example would probably be Google.
But for now, let’s place our focus on Zappos, the online shoe merchandising giant!
If you haven’t already know, Zappos is an e-commerce website that specializes in selling shoes. Like how Amazon focuses on books, Zappos focuses on shoes. Its merchandise sales was $1.6M in 2000, and by the end of 2008, it has hit over $1 billion in revenue.
Its key to success? Great customer service and experience! With a group of friendly tele-operators, free shipping, wide array of products and free 365 day returns, it is extremely difficult not to like Zappos. Internally, they call this their WOW philosophy.
Some Facts: Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh
• Graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Computer Science
• Sold LinkExchange, an internet advertising network to Microsoft for $265M in 1998
• Co-founded Venture Frogs with Alfred Lin, his college mate
• Venture Frogs funded various internet startup including Zappos.com
• Made more than $200 million from Amazon’s acquisition of Zappos
• Has more than 1.1 millions followers on Twitter
Videos: What’s Life like in Zappos
Zappos on Nightline
Take a look inside Zappos
Ice Cream Party At Zappos
Some Thoughts
Are the people of Zappos a little too happy?
How are they able to balance work and play since both seem to c0-exist?
What happens when employees don’t have the discipline to manage fun and work?
I’m not too sure how Tony handles it in reality but the account figures suggest that his approach is working real good for him. Please Retweet this post if you support @Zappos. I’ll be doing my part too!
